ABSTRACT
Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion was clearly regarded by the author as an important work—even on his deathbed he was keen to ensure its posthumous publication. But the authorial message (if any) of the text has proved elusive. Some commentators argue that there is no authorial message, and that Hume's agenda was largely or entirely sceptical. Others have interpreted the Dialogues as teaching agnosticism, or deism, or a theism resting on natural belief rather than reasoned argument. None of these readings is absolutely excluded by the text. This paper explores the case for an atheistic reading of the Dialogues. Since none of the characters in the debate explicitly champions or argues for atheism, a certain amount of reading between the lines is inevitably required. But the text does, I contend, present its readers with a number of significant hints and clues which, taken collectively, lend support to an atheistic reading.
